Related Articles

The only real repair for a frozen toilet pipeline that is not filling the tank, is to thaw the pipe. Once the pipeline has been thawed, you can take preventative measures to make sure it doesn't happen again. But until the pipeline is thawed, no water will enter the toilet. The ice inside of the pipe will have made a watertight seal, and until that seal is broken, water won't get past. There are several ways to thaw the pipe, and you can choose which way works best for you.

Flush the toilet to keep it on the "fill" mode so that as the pipe thaws, water will begin running into the tank. Turn on other faucets in the bathroom. Isolate the toilet line from the other water lines to ensure they are not frozen. If the toilet line is fed by a main line, determine if the main line is also frozen.

Locate the frozen water pipeline. If the pipeline is in a crawl space or basement, ascertain which pipeline is frozen by checking the areas where the pipelines run near or against an outside wall. Trace the toilet pipeline down from the floor and feel it back to where it connects to another pipeline. Check for a change in temperature as you usually will be able to feel the difference between the temperature of a frozen pipeline and an unfrozen pipeline. The juncture where the two pipes come together will be the most likely spot where the toilet line has become frozen.

Turn a hair dryer on low and blow the heat from the dryer onto the frozen pipeline. Go back and forth along the entire pipeline until the pipe heats to the touch and the water begins to fill the toilet tank.

Saturate towels with hot water. Drape the towels over the frozen pipeline. This will be messy, but it is a quick way to get heat directly onto the pipeline. Change the towels as they cool. When the water begins to fill the toilet tank, the pipeline is thawed.

Set a heating pad on "Low" and wrap it over the frozen pipeline.

Use a space heater to heat the space and thaw the pipeline. Smaller spaces will benefit most by this solution. If you have a large basement, direct the heat as close as you can to the frozen pipeline.

Things You Will Need

Hair dryer

Heating pad

Towels

Space heater

Tip

For chronic freezing problems, wrap electrical heat tape around the pipeline in question. Plug in the heat tape to keep the pipe slightly above freezing, even in the coldest weather.

If you do not have a crawl space or a basement, the pipelines are buried in the soil. In this case, call a plumber.

Using a heating pad may take longer to thaw the pipes, but it will also allow you to monitor when the toilet begins to fill.

About the Author

Dale Yalanovsky has been writing professionally since 1978. He has been published in "Woman's Day," "New Home Journal" and on many do-it-yourself websites. He specializes in do-it-yourself projects, household and auto maintenance and property management. Yalanovsky also writes a bimonthly column that provides home improvement advice.

bibliography-iconicon for annotation tool Cite this Article

Choose Citation Style

Yalanovsky, Dale. "How to Repair a Toilet That is Not Filling Due to a Frozen Pipeline." Home Guides | SF Gate, http://homeguides.sfgate.com/repair-toilet-not-filling-due-frozen-pipeline-25906.html. 15 December 2018.

Yalanovsky, Dale. (2018, December 15). How to Repair a Toilet That is Not Filling Due to a Frozen Pipeline. Home Guides | SF Gate. Retrieved from http://homeguides.sfgate.com/repair-toilet-not-filling-due-frozen-pipeline-25906.html

Yalanovsky, Dale. "How to Repair a Toilet That is Not Filling Due to a Frozen Pipeline" last modified December 15, 2018. http://homeguides.sfgate.com/repair-toilet-not-filling-due-frozen-pipeline-25906.html

Note: Depending on which text editor you're pasting into, you might have to add the italics to the site name.